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Cape Cod Weighs Big-Ticket Pollution Solutions

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Friday, May 24, 2024

This story was co-published with WBUR in Boston and produced with assistance from the Pulitzer Center. Read WBUR’s coverage of efforts to improve Cape Cod’s water pollution, including a “pee-cycling” project being considered by one innovative town. And check out a documentary short exploring these issues that was co-produced by WBUR and Scientific American.[CLIP: Theme music]Rachel Feltman: Cape Cod’s ponds and bays have suffered from decades of pollution. But scientific detective work has finally pinpointed the worst culprit: human urine. When household septic systems flush nitrogen and other nutrients into the water, they provide an all-you-can-eat buffet for algae blooms. More algae means less sunlight and oxygen for other marine life, which means trouble for the people of Cape Cod.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.For Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman. Today we’re bringing you the second installment in our three-part Fascination series on Cape Cod’s yellow tide. In this episode WBUR environmental correspondent Barbara Moran looks at some of the big-ticket pollution solutions up for consideration—and unpacks why they’re so controversial.So without further ado, here’s part two: “Sticker Shock.”[CLIP: Gerard Martin speaks at a Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) hearing: “All right, excuse me, everybody, I think we’re gonna get going.”]Barbara Moran: Starting in late 2022 and continuing into the next year, concerned residents gathered for a series of public meetings with representatives from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. The residents were there to share their thoughts.[CLIP: Martin continues to speak at the hearing: “The hearing is being recorded and conducted in a hybrid format.”]Moran: The state was proposing new rules that would require communities to reduce their nitrogen pollution. In some places that meant people would potentially have to install new $35,000 septic systems. Here’s what Frank King of Brewster, Massachusetts, had to say about that.[CLIP: Frank King speaks at the MassDEP hearing: “If that is correct, you are looking at a massive protest on the scale of another Boston Tea Party.”][CLIP: Chris Shanahan speaks at the MassDEP hearing: “Thirty or thirty-five thousand dollars a year? That’s a complete misrepresentation.”]Moran: That’s Chris Shanahan of Falmouth, Massachusetts.[CLIP: Shanahan continues to speak at the hearing: “You can buy a system for that. You gotta maintain it. You gotta fix parts. It just never ends. So lifetime expense is more like eighty or a hundred thousand over 30 years.”][CLIP: Joan Hutchings speaks at the MassDEP hearing: “I’m not somebody that has a McMansion. I’ve got a three-bedroom home that’s been in my family for a bazillion years.”]Moran: Joan Hutchings of North Truro, Massachusetts. She said her town already made her upgrade her septic system.[CLIP: Hutchings continues to speak at the hearing: “Now the state’s gonna have me do something else? I don’t know, I might put an outhouse out back—seriously.”]Moran: People are concerned about the cost, as you heard. But they’re also concerned about whether these new systems even work. Can they actually prevent water pollution? I wondered the same thing. So I went to see an expert.Brian Baumgaertel: My name is Brian Baumgaertel. I’m the director of the Massachusetts Alternative Septic System Test Center.Moran: You met Brian briefly in Episode One. Now we’re on his home turf: a two-and-a-half acre outdoor laboratory on Cape Cod known as MASSTC.Brian’s team is on a mission to find the best septic systems in the world—and it’s not a job for the squeamish.[CLIP: Sound of wastewater channel]Moran (tape): All right, so I’m looking into this hole, and there’s, like, water pouring in and some scummy stuff floating around there.Baumgaertel: Yeah, that’s the raw wastewater coming in from Joint Base Cape Cod. And it doesn’t look like what most people would think of when—you know, when you’re thinking of wastewater, you think it’s pretty disgusting. I—you know, maybe I’ve just gotten so used to it. I don’t know.Moran (tape): It is a little disgusting. [Laughs]Baumgaertel: It’s got kind of a smell. You know, it’s one of the less glorious parts of MASSTC, but it’s a necessity. [Laughs] It’s brown gold, brown gold for us.Moran: MASSTC uses that brown gold to test prototype septic systems from all over the world. I ask Brian to show me one—although it’s hard to see much at the facility.Baumgaertel: A lot of what we do here is underground because of course, for the most part, septic systems in homes would be underground.Moran: Brian walks over to a grassy mound that looks weirdly like a burial site—which it is, actually. He says that buried underneath our feet is a new kind of septic system that removes nitrogen from wastewater.Here’s how it works: Wastewater flows into a tank, and all the solid stuff sinks to the bottom. The liquid left floating on top includes our pee, which is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and other nutrients. This liquid flows out of the tank …Baumgaertel: And then flows into the actual unit itself …Moran (tape): Another tank that’s under our feet.Baumgaertel: Yep, yep. There’s another tank that’s about 12 feet long right here.Moran (tape): Okay.Baumgaertel: And inside that tank are a number of compartments.Moran: The compartments contain limestone rocks and wood chips. These ingredients create a breeding ground for bacteria that eat nitrogen. They convert it into harmless nitrogen gas before it gets into the groundwater.Other systems remove nitrogen in different ways. Brian and his team test the water coming out of each system to see how well it works. And he says this one has been working pretty well.Baumgaertel: So far the data look very encouraging. Every day we get a little bit more data, we get a little bit more confidence that the technology can work.[CLIP: “We Are Giants,” by Silver Maple]Moran: Others are also heartened by the data, including Zenas Crocker, who goes by Zee. He’s executive director of the nonprofit Barnstable Clean Water Coalition.Zenas Crocker: And this system is so successful that in the data that we’re seeing now, it will remove between 95 and 97 percent of nitrogen going into the groundwater.Moran: Zee’s group was so impressed with how well these systems remove nitrogen that it launched a pilot project. The group is installing more than a dozen in a neighborhood by Shubael Pond in Barnstable, Massachusetts—including one when I visited last September.[CLIP: Sound of chains being attached to a tank, followed by it being lifted]Moran: As we watch, a crane operator uses chains to lift a concrete tank and lower it into a hole in the ground.[CLIP: Sound of the tank being lowered and men talking]Moran: Zee’s group is working with the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Geological Survey to monitor how well the new systems keep nitrogen out of the groundwater.Crocker: We chose this location in particular because these are all small lots. We’re also in a working-class community. Generally we’re looking at full-time residents here and people who really can’t afford, necessarily, to upgrade their septic systems.Moran: The Barnstable Clean Water Coalition paid to install the systems in this neighborhood; the homeowners paid nothing—which won’t be an option for the whole cape.But there is another approach to stopping wastewater pollution: switching from septic tanks to sewage pipes, which would bring the waste to a treatment plant. And that’s what Barnstable is doing in other parts of the town.I went to Barnstable’s town hall to meet the guy in charge.Moran (tape): Hi, how’re you doing? I have a nine o’clock interview with Mark Ells.Receptionist: Okay, sure, he’ll be right with you.Moran: Mark Ells is Barnstable’s town manager.Mark Ells: We’ve seen a significant deterioration of our bays to the point where we don’t have shellfish, we don’t have finfish. So we want to make sure that we put in place solutions that help us to address not only what we know today but what we’re anticipating tomorrow.Moran: Barnstable is the largest town on the cape, and parts are pretty urban, with houses and commercial buildings relatively close together. In places like this, sewer systems are a practical and cost-effective choice.So the town has begun a massive expansion of its sewer system, planning to extend service to almost 12,000 properties.[CLIP: “Let There Be Rain,” by Silver Maple]It’ll take 30 years and cost more than $1 billion. The town got local, state and federal funding to help cover the expansion costs. But homeowners will still have to pay.First there’s a town assessment of up to $10,000. Then homeowners have to pay to get their house hooked up to the sewer line and pay for someone to deal with their old septic tank. And then they’ll have a monthly sewer bill. The final cost, spread over decades, is probably in the range of $20,000 to $30,000—or more—per house.[CLIP: Construction sounds]Moran: And there’s another cost to installing sewer lines: seemingly constant roadwork and traffic jams.One day last fall cars crawled along as superintendent Mike Donovan’s crew dug up the main road into Barnstable.Moran (tape): Is this going to be, like, what your company does for, like, the next three decades?Mike Donovan: We—well, hopefully, yeah. That’s what we do for a living. We’re installing sewer all over the cape right now.Moran: But even this ambitious, expensive sewer expansion will take decades to reach some neighborhoods in Barnstable.Pat Uhlman lives across the street from Shubael Pond. And she’s seen it turn green with toxic algae. She says a few decades is too long to keep polluting the water.Pat Uhlman: If we don’t start cleaning it up now, you know, you might not even want to walk down by that pond by then.Moran: Luckily Pat is part of the neighborhood pilot project that got new septic systems installed for free. She says she understands that other homeowners are feeling sticker shock, but the pollution has to stop.Uhlman: The cape economy is still people coming here in the summer. So if they can’t swim in our ponds, they can’t swim in our ocean, they can’t boat, there’s not gonna be any reason for them to come here.[CLIP: Theme music]Moran: There may be another solution, a cheaper one. It won’t solve all the cape’s water problems, but it could help—a lot. We’ll talk about that next week in the final part of this Scientific American–WBUR Fascination miniseries.Feltman: Thanks for listening. Tune in next Friday for the final installment in this miniseries—which, spoiler alert, involves a little something called “pee-cycling.” You don’t want to miss it.Can’t wait for next Friday to get here? Don’t worry. We are taking Monday off for Memorial Day, but we’ll be back in your feed on Wednesday with some tips for protecting wildlife from the comfort of your own backyard.This series is a co-production of WBUR and Scientific American. It’s reported and hosted by WBUR’s Barbara Moran.Science Quickly is produced by Jeff DelViscio, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Rachel Feltman. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-checked this series, and Duy Linh Tu and Sebastian Tuinder contributed reporting and sound. WBUR’s Kathleen Masterson edited this series. Additional funding was provided by the Pulitzer Center.For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman.

Toxic algal blooms are forcing Cape Cod communities to consider expensive sewer and septic system projects.

This story was co-published with WBUR in Boston and produced with assistance from the Pulitzer Center. Read WBUR’s coverage of efforts to improve Cape Cod’s water pollution, including a “pee-cycling” project being considered by one innovative town. And check out a documentary short exploring these issues that was co-produced by WBUR and Scientific American.

[CLIP: Theme music]

Rachel Feltman: Cape Cod’s ponds and bays have suffered from decades of pollution. But scientific detective work has finally pinpointed the worst culprit: human urine. When household septic systems flush nitrogen and other nutrients into the water, they provide an all-you-can-eat buffet for algae blooms. More algae means less sunlight and oxygen for other marine life, which means trouble for the people of Cape Cod.


On supporting science journalism

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.


For Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman. Today we’re bringing you the second installment in our three-part Fascination series on Cape Cod’s yellow tide. In this episode WBUR environmental correspondent Barbara Moran looks at some of the big-ticket pollution solutions up for consideration—and unpacks why they’re so controversial.

So without further ado, here’s part two: “Sticker Shock.”

[CLIP: Gerard Martin speaks at a Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) hearing: “All right, excuse me, everybody, I think we’re gonna get going.”]

Barbara Moran: Starting in late 2022 and continuing into the next year, concerned residents gathered for a series of public meetings with representatives from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. The residents were there to share their thoughts.

[CLIP: Martin continues to speak at the hearing: “The hearing is being recorded and conducted in a hybrid format.”]

Moran: The state was proposing new rules that would require communities to reduce their nitrogen pollution. In some places that meant people would potentially have to install new $35,000 septic systems. Here’s what Frank King of Brewster, Massachusetts, had to say about that.

[CLIP: Frank King speaks at the MassDEP hearing: “If that is correct, you are looking at a massive protest on the scale of another Boston Tea Party.”]

[CLIP: Chris Shanahan speaks at the MassDEP hearing: “Thirty or thirty-five thousand dollars a year? That’s a complete misrepresentation.”]

Moran: That’s Chris Shanahan of Falmouth, Massachusetts.

[CLIP: Shanahan continues to speak at the hearing: “You can buy a system for that. You gotta maintain it. You gotta fix parts. It just never ends. So lifetime expense is more like eighty or a hundred thousand over 30 years.”]

[CLIP: Joan Hutchings speaks at the MassDEP hearing: “I’m not somebody that has a McMansion. I’ve got a three-bedroom home that’s been in my family for a bazillion years.”]

Moran: Joan Hutchings of North Truro, Massachusetts. She said her town already made her upgrade her septic system.

[CLIP: Hutchings continues to speak at the hearing: “Now the state’s gonna have me do something else? I don’t know, I might put an outhouse out back—seriously.”]

Moran: People are concerned about the cost, as you heard. But they’re also concerned about whether these new systems even work. Can they actually prevent water pollution? I wondered the same thing. So I went to see an expert.

Brian Baumgaertel: My name is Brian Baumgaertel. I’m the director of the Massachusetts Alternative Septic System Test Center.

Moran: You met Brian briefly in Episode One. Now we’re on his home turf: a two-and-a-half acre outdoor laboratory on Cape Cod known as MASSTC.

Brian’s team is on a mission to find the best septic systems in the world—and it’s not a job for the squeamish.

[CLIP: Sound of wastewater channel]

Moran (tape): All right, so I’m looking into this hole, and there’s, like, water pouring in and some scummy stuff floating around there.

Baumgaertel: Yeah, that’s the raw wastewater coming in from Joint Base Cape Cod. And it doesn’t look like what most people would think of when—you know, when you’re thinking of wastewater, you think it’s pretty disgusting. I—you know, maybe I’ve just gotten so used to it. I don’t know.

Moran (tape): It is a little disgusting. [Laughs]

Baumgaertel: It’s got kind of a smell. You know, it’s one of the less glorious parts of MASSTC, but it’s a necessity. [Laughs] It’s brown gold, brown gold for us.

Moran: MASSTC uses that brown gold to test prototype septic systems from all over the world. I ask Brian to show me one—although it’s hard to see much at the facility.

Baumgaertel: A lot of what we do here is underground because of course, for the most part, septic systems in homes would be underground.

Moran: Brian walks over to a grassy mound that looks weirdly like a burial site—which it is, actually. He says that buried underneath our feet is a new kind of septic system that removes nitrogen from wastewater.

Here’s how it works: Wastewater flows into a tank, and all the solid stuff sinks to the bottom. The liquid left floating on top includes our pee, which is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and other nutrients. This liquid flows out of the tank …

Baumgaertel: And then flows into the actual unit itself …

Moran (tape): Another tank that’s under our feet.

Baumgaertel: Yep, yep. There’s another tank that’s about 12 feet long right here.

Moran (tape): Okay.

Baumgaertel: And inside that tank are a number of compartments.

Moran: The compartments contain limestone rocks and wood chips. These ingredients create a breeding ground for bacteria that eat nitrogen. They convert it into harmless nitrogen gas before it gets into the groundwater.

Other systems remove nitrogen in different ways. Brian and his team test the water coming out of each system to see how well it works. And he says this one has been working pretty well.

Baumgaertel: So far the data look very encouraging. Every day we get a little bit more data, we get a little bit more confidence that the technology can work.

[CLIP: “We Are Giants,” by Silver Maple]

Moran: Others are also heartened by the data, including Zenas Crocker, who goes by Zee. He’s executive director of the nonprofit Barnstable Clean Water Coalition.

Zenas Crocker: And this system is so successful that in the data that we’re seeing now, it will remove between 95 and 97 percent of nitrogen going into the groundwater.

Moran: Zee’s group was so impressed with how well these systems remove nitrogen that it launched a pilot project. The group is installing more than a dozen in a neighborhood by Shubael Pond in Barnstable, Massachusetts—including one when I visited last September.

[CLIP: Sound of chains being attached to a tank, followed by it being lifted]

Moran: As we watch, a crane operator uses chains to lift a concrete tank and lower it into a hole in the ground.

[CLIP: Sound of the tank being lowered and men talking]

Moran: Zee’s group is working with the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Geological Survey to monitor how well the new systems keep nitrogen out of the groundwater.

Crocker: We chose this location in particular because these are all small lots. We’re also in a working-class community. Generally we’re looking at full-time residents here and people who really can’t afford, necessarily, to upgrade their septic systems.

Moran: The Barnstable Clean Water Coalition paid to install the systems in this neighborhood; the homeowners paid nothing—which won’t be an option for the whole cape.

But there is another approach to stopping wastewater pollution: switching from septic tanks to sewage pipes, which would bring the waste to a treatment plant. And that’s what Barnstable is doing in other parts of the town.

I went to Barnstable’s town hall to meet the guy in charge.

Moran (tape): Hi, how’re you doing? I have a nine o’clock interview with Mark Ells.

Receptionist: Okay, sure, he’ll be right with you.

Moran: Mark Ells is Barnstable’s town manager.

Mark Ells: We’ve seen a significant deterioration of our bays to the point where we don’t have shellfish, we don’t have finfish. So we want to make sure that we put in place solutions that help us to address not only what we know today but what we’re anticipating tomorrow.

Moran: Barnstable is the largest town on the cape, and parts are pretty urban, with houses and commercial buildings relatively close together. In places like this, sewer systems are a practical and cost-effective choice.

So the town has begun a massive expansion of its sewer system, planning to extend service to almost 12,000 properties.

[CLIP: “Let There Be Rain,” by Silver Maple]

It’ll take 30 years and cost more than $1 billion. The town got local, state and federal funding to help cover the expansion costs. But homeowners will still have to pay.

First there’s a town assessment of up to $10,000. Then homeowners have to pay to get their house hooked up to the sewer line and pay for someone to deal with their old septic tank. And then they’ll have a monthly sewer bill. The final cost, spread over decades, is probably in the range of $20,000 to $30,000—or more—per house.

[CLIP: Construction sounds]

Moran: And there’s another cost to installing sewer lines: seemingly constant roadwork and traffic jams.

One day last fall cars crawled along as superintendent Mike Donovan’s crew dug up the main road into Barnstable.

Moran (tape): Is this going to be, like, what your company does for, like, the next three decades?

Mike Donovan: We—well, hopefully, yeah. That’s what we do for a living. We’re installing sewer all over the cape right now.

Moran: But even this ambitious, expensive sewer expansion will take decades to reach some neighborhoods in Barnstable.

Pat Uhlman lives across the street from Shubael Pond. And she’s seen it turn green with toxic algae. She says a few decades is too long to keep polluting the water.

Pat Uhlman: If we don’t start cleaning it up now, you know, you might not even want to walk down by that pond by then.

Moran: Luckily Pat is part of the neighborhood pilot project that got new septic systems installed for free. She says she understands that other homeowners are feeling sticker shock, but the pollution has to stop.

Uhlman: The cape economy is still people coming here in the summer. So if they can’t swim in our ponds, they can’t swim in our ocean, they can’t boat, there’s not gonna be any reason for them to come here.

[CLIP: Theme music]

Moran: There may be another solution, a cheaper one. It won’t solve all the cape’s water problems, but it could help—a lot. We’ll talk about that next week in the final part of this Scientific American–WBUR Fascination miniseries.

Feltman: Thanks for listening. Tune in next Friday for the final installment in this miniseries—which, spoiler alert, involves a little something called “pee-cycling.” You don’t want to miss it.

Can’t wait for next Friday to get here? Don’t worry. We are taking Monday off for Memorial Day, but we’ll be back in your feed on Wednesday with some tips for protecting wildlife from the comfort of your own backyard.

This series is a co-production of WBUR and Scientific American. It’s reported and hosted by WBUR’s Barbara Moran.

Science Quickly is produced by Jeff DelViscio, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Rachel Feltman. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-checked this series, and Duy Linh Tu and Sebastian Tuinder contributed reporting and sound. WBUR’s Kathleen Masterson edited this series. Additional funding was provided by the Pulitzer Center.

For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman.

Read the full story here.
Photos courtesy of

‘Live sick or flee’: pollution fears for El Salvador’s rivers as mining ban lifted

The landmark prohibition on mining in 2017, a world first, has been reversed by authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele but the move has met fierce resistance from environmentalistsVidalina Morales realised that something was wrong with the water where she lived in 2004. A toxic red stain spreading through the San Sebastián River in the department of Cabañas in El Salvador seemed to contaminate the environment and worried residents.As part of a campaign to protect her home and the environment, Morales, 54, visited mining projects near the river to learn about the risks the extractive sector posed. “I was shocked by the extent of the destruction of their environment,” she says. Continue reading...

Vidalina Morales realised that something was wrong with the water where she lived in 2004. A toxic red stain spreading through the San Sebastián River in the department of Cabañas in El Salvador seemed to contaminate the environment and worried residents.As part of a campaign to protect her home and the environment, Morales, 54, visited mining projects near the river to learn about the risks the extractive sector posed. “I was shocked by the extent of the destruction of their environment,” she says.Vidalina Morales has become the face of the fight against mining in El Salvador. Photograph: Rodrigo Sura/EPA-EFESince then, Morales has become the face of the fight against mining in El Salvador. Perhaps because she knew the power of the pro-mining lobby, she and her fellow resistance members celebrated only briefly when their country became the first in the world to ban metal mining in 2017. Deep down, she says, she knew the fight was far from over.Seven years later, her fears have been realised as mining has been reintroduced in El Salvador. On 23 December, its congress voted to overturn the ban on metals mining, a move championed by the hardline president, Nayib Bukele, who is prioritising economic growth over environmental concerns.The new legislation grants the government exclusive control over mining activities and prohibits the use of toxic mercury in gold extraction.However, despite the regulations, environmentalists have promised strong opposition, citing potential irreversible damage to ecosystems and public health. Other minerals released into the environment by gold-mining include arsenic, for instance.A protest outside congress in San Salvador, El Salvador, where the mining ban was overturned on 23 December. Photograph: Aphotografia/GettyCidia Cortes, an environmental biologist, says: “In the San Sebastián River, arsenic levels are 300 times higher than international safety standards. Acid drainage turns the water a poisonous red, contaminating water, air and land.”Despite El Salvador’s history of violence against human rights and environmental activists, as well as lawsuits brought by the state against them, Luis Parada, a 64-year-old former army officer who spoke out against the military’s notorious murder of Jesuit priests in 1989, headed the legal defence for the Salvadoran government when it was sued by mining corporations in 2009.The two lawsuits were filed by Commerce Group Corp and San Sebastián Gold Mines and by the Canadian mining company Pacific Rim, later bought by OceanaGold. The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, a World Bank tribunal, settled the first in the state’s favour in 2011 and dismissed Pacific Rim’s $250m claim in 2016.Parada says: “Winning both arbitrations was key for the mining ban. We won the last one in October 2016, and shortly after, in March 2017, the country had passed the law thanks to the momentum that the communities created after more than a decade fighting the mining industry.”Salvadoran protesters at congress in March 2017, when the mining ban was passed. Photograph: Marvin Recinos/AFP/Getty ImagesBy that time, almost 80% of the population supported the mining ban. Luis González, director of an environmental pressure group, the Salvadoran Ecological Unit, believes the public still supports the ban.“Although there has been a political shift, I believe people still have clarity that mining is bad,” he says. “We can still pull together nationwide support to reject this measure.”Nayib Bukele calls El Salvador’s mining ban ‘absurd’. Photograph: José Cabezas/ReutersAlthough the metal mining ban was a landmark victory for the Central American environmental movement, the threat of “extractivism” was far from over. Just four years later, the government under the Bukele administration moved towards reversing the ban by joining the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, and eventually publicly embraced the idea.“We are the only country in the world with a total ban on metal mining, something that no other country applies. Absurd!” Bukele said on his X account last month. “This God-given wealth can be harnessed responsibly to bring unprecedented economic and social development to our people.”Early last year, the authoritarian Bukele’s administration targeted five environmental activists by accusing them of a crime committed in 1989 during the brutal civil war and of “illicit association”, a charge used in the government’s crackdown on organised crime. The detentions have been widely condemned as politically motivated.Bukele’s pro-mining rhetoric did not come as a surprise. “We have been warning since 2021 that mining interests were preying upon El Salvador, and this was confirmed when they jailed five of our environmental leaders back in January 2023,” says Morales.MPs of the ruling New Ideas party celebrate the ban’s repeal. Photograph: Rodrigo Sura/EPAAccording to Parada, the repeal of the mining law means that the two lawsuits and similar cases could be reopened. “Since the mining ban is reversed, the country could be lining up to receive lawsuits from defeated mining corporations, as they would claim what they think is theirs,” he says.Environmental pollution of watercourses is literally a matter of life and death for El Salvador. The Lempa is the country’s most significant river, supplying about 70% of drinking water for the San Salvador metropolitan area.Cortes fears that industrial mining could have a devastating effect on El Salvador’s water. “The Lempa River could disappear as we know it,” she says. “This river needs intensive care to survive agrochemicals, mining and stone extraction, as well as the four hydroelectric plants located within the watershed.”González also believes opening mining projects could lead to dire consequences. “People who already receive contaminated water will have even more polluted water,” he says. “Heavy metals will reach everything, from tap water to crops, meaning crops will either dry up or absorb these chemicals, causing health consequences.”A polluted river in Santa Rosa de Lima, El Salvador. Photograph: Camilo Freedman/The GuardianIn a recent press conference, Bukele queried whether people could drink water from the Lempa. “Who can drink water from a river here?” he asked, arguing that his government needed new revenue sources to provide people with clean tap water. “What we need is money to clean our rivers.”In October, El Salvador successfully completed the world’s largest debt conversion for river conservation, repurchasing $1bn (£800m) of its bonds at a discount and saving more than $352m. These savings will fund the Rio Lempa Conservation and Restoration Program over the next 20 years.There is a need to turn to protest … it is the only way they’ll listenThe initiative, supported by the US International Development Finance Corporation and the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF), includes $200m to fund the programme directly, while $150m will fund an endowment to finance it beyond 2044.“Those $200m would amount to a $9m yearly investment on the Lempa River for the next 20 years and could work to do conservation work of the body of water,” he says. “But it would be nowhere close to compensating the damage done by mining.”The costs to the environment from mining can be astronomical. According to a 2022 study by the Mexican Institute of Statistics and Geography, cleaning a tonne of soil contaminated with cyanide costs almost $200,000.“A water leak containing cyanide can cost millions to clean, and acid drainage would cost El Salvador millions of dollars for eternity,” says Andres McKinley, a researcher at El Salvador’s José Simeón Cañas Central American University. “This is a battle for water, the heart of the mining industry.”The river in Santa Rosa de Lima, with runoff from a mine. Photograph: Camilo Freedman/GuardianEnvironmentalists warn that mining poses an even greater risk in El Salvador because of the country’s small size. But Bukele does not agree. “Countries such as Qatar, with half our size, are rich because of extractivism,” he says.González says it is not only the size that puts the country at risk but “the fact that El Salvador is the most densely populated country in the Americas”. He points to the vastly different amounts of water available to Salvadorans compared with Canadians, for example, with the latter enjoying more than 40 times as much.Environmental activists such as Morales worry that the government-controlled congress and courts (after Bukele dismissed the country’s supreme court judges and attorney general) will make resisting the return of mining an uphill struggle but they believe it is a battle that needs to be fought.Parada says: “It’s highly unlikely that a Bukele-controlled court will rule against the government, so there is a need to turn to protest because it is the only way they’ll listen. People are speaking out on social media, and there will be street protests soon.”González fears that El Salvador will suffer an exodus of people caused by growing environmental pollution – aggravating the migratory crisis already under way in Central America.“Mining generates a huge social and environmental impact,” he says. “Many will risk being poisoned [and] living sick or having to flee their communities because of the heavy metals used by this industry.”

What should we eat to give us better, healthier skin

From carotenoids to vitamins C and E and minerals such as selenium, here are the most important nutrients to slow skin damage

A multicoloured diet can lead to a brighter complexionColdsnowstorm/Getty Images Your skin is under constant assault. Exhaust fumes, cigarette smoke, particulate pollution, heavy metals and ozone can generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) that attack DNA, rupture cell membranes and unravel life’s essential proteins. Perhaps the most harmful are UV rays, which generate ROS as well as disrupting DNA directly. The human body can mop up ROS and neutralise them, but it needs molecules found in fruit, vegetables and leafy greens to do so. Carotenoids are among the nutrients that have been most extensively studied for these benefits. These are the pigments that give the likes of pumpkins their bright colour. “They are very good antioxidants and they are particularly good at neutralising singlet oxygen [a type of ROS],” says Jean Krutmann at the Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine in Düsseldorf, Germany, who recently analysed 50 years of data from human clinical trials involving carotenoid supplements. “The carotenoids catch them and neutralise them before they can do damage.” These substances are best at protecting against longer wavelengths found in UVA light. UVA penetrates the deepest layers of the skin, generating ROS that can cause skin ageing, wrinkling and cancers. Carotenoids can’t prevent the direct DNA damage caused by the rays themselves though, meaning they can’t be considered a replacement for sunscreen. Good dietary sources include carrots and tomatoes. To get the greatest benefits, however, Krutmann recommends taking carotenoids as a nutritional supplement, especially if you drink alcohol, which depletes antioxidants in your skin. Nutrients for skin Besides carotenoids,…

Pollution exposure linked to mental health hospital admissions, says study

Researchers from St Andrews found rise in nitrogen dioxide exposure associated with higher admissionsExposure to air pollution is linked to an increased risk of hospital admission for mental illness, according to the most comprehensive study of its kind.The research, involving more than 200,000 people in Scotland, found an increase in exposure to nitrogen dioxide in particular was associated with a higher number of people being admitted to hospital for behaviour disorders and mental illnesses. Continue reading...

Exposure to air pollution is linked to an increased risk of hospital admission for mental illness, according to the most comprehensive study of its kind.The research, involving more than 200,000 people in Scotland, found an increase in exposure to nitrogen dioxide in particular was associated with a higher number of people being admitted to hospital for behaviour disorders and mental illnesses.Previously published research on the health effects of long-term exposure to ambient air pollution has tended to emphasise deaths rather than hospital admissions, and physical, rather than mental, ill health, the researchers said.The study found that air pollution was linked to increased risks of hospital admission for mental health, as well as physical illness.Stricter environmental restrictions would benefit millions of people and curb the impact on secondary care, the researchers said.Dr Mary Abed Al Ahad of the University of St Andrews, who led the study, said policies to tackle air pollution and a shift to renewable energy could help ease the burden on hospitals of people with both physical and mental illnesses in the long term.“Policies and interventions targeting air pollution emissions such as zero-emission zones or incentives for renewable energy in transportation and energy production sectors could help ease the hospital-care burden in the long term both locally and globally.”The analysis of data tracked from Public Health Scotland examined four key pollutants between 2002 and 2017 and the impact of ambient air pollution.Researchers drew on individual level data from the Scottish Longitudinal Study, which represents 5% of the Scottish population and includes demographic information from linked censuses.In all, 202,237 people aged 17 and above were included in the research, which was published in the open access journal BMJ Open.Their health and hospital admissions for cardiovascular, respiratory, infectious diseases, mental illnesses or behaviour disorders were tracked from Public Health Scotland data.They were linked to levels of four pollutants from road traffic and industry: nitrogen dioxide (NO2); sulphur dioxide (SO2); particulate matter diameter of at least 10μm (PM10); and small particulate matter of 2.5μm or less (PM2.5) per 1km2 in each person’s residential postcode.skip past newsletter promotionOur morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it mattersPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionAverage cumulative exposure to air pollution was strongly associated with higher rates of hospital admissions, both for mental and physical illnesses. Higher cumulative exposure to NO2, PM10, and PM2.5 was associated with a higher incidence of hospital admissions for all causes.Ioannis Bakolis, a professor of public mental health and statistics at King’s College London who was not involved with the study, said the “large-scale” data was “appropriately analysed” and provided further evidence on the link between air pollution and mental health.Research has previously shown how people who spend their childhood in areas with high levels of air pollution may be more likely to later develop mental disorders.But a study by researchers in the US and Denmark has suggested a link between air pollution and an increased risk of mental health problems, including bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and personality disorders.Between 1% and 2% of the UK population have bipolar disorder in their lifetime, with similar figures for schizophrenia. It is estimated that about 5% of people in the UK have a personality disorder at any one time.

Supreme Court dismisses constitutional claim in California air pollution case

Supreme Court dismisses a red-state constitutional claim that targeted California's power to fight air pollution.

WASHINGTON —  The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a red-state constitutional challenge to California’s special authority to fight air pollution. Over a dissent by Justice Clarence Thomas, the justices turned away an appeal from Ohio and 16 other conservative states, which asked the court to rule “the Golden State is not a golden child.”While Monday’s brief order closes the door on a constitutional challenge to California’s anti-pollution standards, the court on Friday cleared the way for a different, more targeted legal challenge.The oil and gas industry is suing over the state’s “zero emissions” goals for new vehicles, arguing California’s special authority to fight air pollution does not extend to greenhouse gases and global warming. A lower court had dismissed that suit on the grounds the oil producers had no standing to sue. Their complaint was they would sell less fuel in the future. On Friday, the justices agreed to reconsider that ruling early next year. They could clear the way for the suit to proceed.Monday’s related order narrows the legal grounds that the industry can use to challenge California’s rule, assuming it eventually wins standing.The incoming Trump administration is likely to intervene on the side of the challengers. California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar had urged the court to turn down both appeals. They said California’s strict emissions standards are designed to fight smog and other air pollution as well as greenhouse gases. They argued that Congress had ample authority under the Constitution to set special rules for problems in different states. Since early in American history, they said Congress approved special customs duties for some states or rules involving tribes relations.In challenging California’s authority, Ohio’s Atty. Gen. David Yost pointed to the court’s 2013 decision that struck down part of the Voting Rights Act on the grounds it violated the principle of equal state sovereignty. When Congress adopted national air pollution standards in 1967, it said California could go further because it was already enforcing strict standards to combat the state’s worst-in-the-nation problem with smog.Ohio and red states say this special authority violates “core constitutional principles because no state is more equal than the others. And Congress does not have the general power to elevate one state above the others....Yet in the Clean Air Act, Congress elevated California above all the other states by giving to the Golden State alone the power to pass certain environmental laws.”Without commenting, the justices said they would not hear the constitutional claim.The Environmental Defense Fund hailed the court’s announcement.“California’s clean car standards have successfully helped reduce the dangerous soot, smog, and climate pollution that put all people at risk, while also turbocharging clean technologies and job creation,” said Alice Henderson, lead counsel for its clean-air policy group.

Prenatal Exposure to Air Pollution May Hurt Baby's Brain

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay ReporterMONDAY, Dec. 16, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Air pollution could be harming the brain development of children...

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay ReporterMONDAY, Dec. 16, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Air pollution could be harming the brain development of children before they are even born, a new study warns.A 10 parts-per-billion increase in ozone exposure during the second trimester of pregnancy was associated with a 55% increased risk of intellectual disability among children compared to their siblings, researchers found.“Ozone exposure during pregnancy is a clear risk factor for intellectual disability,” said lead researcher Sara Grineski, a professor of sociology with the University of Utah.“We were particularly struck by the consistency of the findings across all trimesters and the strength of the sibling-based analysis,” Grineski added in a university news release.For the study, researchers analyzed data drawn from the Utah Population Database, a long-term research project into genetics and health among Utah residents. The team linked data on children with intellectual disabilities born between 2003 and 2013 to county-level daily estimates of ozone exposure gathered from the U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyIn particular, the data allowed researchers to compare siblings born with different levels of exposure to ozone pollution, researchers said.“Sibling designs allow us to control for some of these population factors that just would be really challenging to do,” said researcher Amanda Bakian, a research associate professor of psychiatry with the University of Utah’s Huntsman Mental Health Institute. “It just gives another layer of robustness of rigor to this study.”Ozone is a harmful air pollutant caused when sunshine prompts a chemical reaction in airborne nitrogen and volatile organic compounds emitted from cars, power plants, refineries and other sources, researchers explained in background notes.Ozone pollution is an increasing summertime hazard, particularly in the face of global warming, researchers said.The second trimester showed the strongest associations between ozone exposure in the womb and a child’s future brain development.During the second trimester, the fetal brain undergoes rapid growth, with neurons developing at a rate of 250,000 per minute, researchers said.Federal health standards for ozone exposure is 70 parts per billion, researchers noted.A 10 parts-per-billion increase in average ozone levels was associated with a 23% increased risk of intellectual disability when kids were compared to the population at large, and 55% higher when compared to their siblings, results show.“When it comes to intellectual disability, we have a prevalence estimate of about 1.3% or so, and that has been pretty consistent over time,” Bakian said.“That’s 1.3% of the kids that are born in any one year, and we still don’t have a great understanding of all the risk factors that are involved,” Bakian added. “What are the underlying mechanisms that drive this risk? Having intellectual disability has lifelong implications.”Given these findings, places with lots of ozone pollution have a higher risk of kids with intellectual disabilities, researchers said.“Salt Lake City ranks 10th for the most polluted cities in the U.S. in terms of ozone, and 2023 ozone levels were higher than 2022 levels,” Grineski noted.Reducing ozone levels will be critical to protecting the brains of children, researchers said. Clean car standards, transitioning to electric vehicles and improving manufacturing and agricultural processes will help lower air pollution.“We don’t want to neglect these issues related to ozone and cognitive health moving forward," Grineski said. "Our findings here for Utah suggest a troubling association. This is just one study in a sea of papers documenting the harmful effects of air pollution on health.”SOURCE: University of Utah, news release, Dec. 11, 2024Copyright © 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

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